


55. I don't mind

by loumillerlesbian



Series: 100 ways to say I love you [4]
Category: Ocean's 8 (2018)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Period Cramps, Platonic Cuddling, Pre-Canon, Roommates, also how come they are always in bed in my fics, at least they think so, oh my god they were roommates, soft gays who are (maybe) in love, they just don't know it yet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-24
Updated: 2018-08-24
Packaged: 2019-07-02 01:15:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15785973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loumillerlesbian/pseuds/loumillerlesbian
Summary: “Lou?” she asks again, this time gently shaking her shoulder. One arm flails and almost hits Debbie again, before Lou abruptly opens her eyes and looks at Debbie wide-eyed.“Lou?” she asks for a third time, concern on her face. “Are you alright?”Debbie is not so softly woken up because Lou is in pain, and proceeds to insist on taking care of her.





	55. I don't mind

**Author's Note:**

> For theweight-ofdarkness on tumblr (again - not that I'm complaining!) who asked for:  
> "Hi again! I can't decide which quote would go best with it, but if you're up for it, I'd love to read something involving bad period cramps. Maybe with 98. “Take a deep breath.” or 55. “I don’t mind.”?"  
> I went with number 55, because I got a, let's say, *different* idea for 98...  
> Thank you for your prompt!

It’s a quiet Sunday morning, Lou’s day off, and Debbie is sound asleep, both of them relieved to know they wouldn’t be ripped out of their slumber by Lou’s alarm when they went to bed the night before.

She wakes up once, at eight am sharp, opens one eye to glance at the alarm and immediately goes back to sleep, comfortable in the arm Lou has thrown around her, the reason she has probably slept as soundly as she did before.

She gets another two hours, until there’s a loud groan and an arm almost hits her face, landing on the pillow mere inches from her head. Her eyes fly open as she wakes with a start, leaning up and immediately looking for Lou. In an attempt at maneuvering herself onto her side she almost falls off the bed, seeing as Lou likes to sleep sprawled out over the entire bed when she’s not curled around Debbie, but she manages.

Next to her, Lou is thrashing around, one arm thrown over her face before turning yet again and curling into a ball, then kicking out her legs, rolling over onto her stomach and back onto her side. “Lou?” Debbie asks hesitantly, unsure of how to react. Lou likes spreading out over the entire bed but usually, she doesn’t move around this much.

“Lou?” she asks again, this time gently shaking her shoulder. One arm flails and almost hits Debbie again, before Lou abruptly opens her eyes and looks at Debbie wide-eyed.

“Lou?” she asks for a third time, concern on her face. “Are you alright?”

Debbie lightly strokes her shoulder, and Lou relaxes a bit, before suddenly she curls her arms around her middle and winces. “It’s alright, just-” She pauses, taking a deep breath. “Just period cramps,” she gasps, and tries to offer a reassuring smile that looks more like a grimace when another jab of pain shoots through her. She sits up and moves back towards the headboard, her arms still wrapped around her middle.

“Anything I can do?” Debbie asks, already jumping out of bed, ready to get whatever Lou requests.

“No, Deb, I’m fine,” Lou insists, shaking her head. She fluffs up the pillow before stuffing it behind her back, then drapes the covers around her again. “It happens, I’m used to it.”

Debbie watches her, standing at the foot of the bed, not willing to relent. “Painkillers, maybe?”

Lou smiles, but shakes her head. “I don’t like taking them”, she points out, and Debbie has no time to wonder about why because she’s still worried about Lou.

“Is there anything else that might help?”

Lou groans, realizing that Debbie will not let up that easily. “Just, maybe a hot-water bottle? There should be one in the kitchen somewhere…” She throws the covers back and is about to get up when Debbie suddenly stands in front of her, hands on Lou’s elbows pushing her lightly back into bed.

“You’re not getting out of bed, let me get that for you,” she insists, and Lou rolls her eyes.

“I’m not dying, Deb, I can do it myself! Don’t worry about it.”

“But I don’t mind,” Debbie pushes back, and with a huff, Lou settles back against the headboard, knees against her chest.

With another look over her shoulder, daring Lou to move from her current spot, Debbie walks out of the bedroom and towards the kitchen, eyes already searching for the bottle. It takes her a few minutes to find it; even in Lou’s organized kitchen not everything is super easy to find, especially not since she’s rarely allowed to be in it after Lou began seeing her as a hazard to any cooking utensil and an intact apartment.

When she sets up the kettle, her eyes flit to the cabinet where Lou stashes her tea and peeks around the corner to the bedroom, finding Lou curled up under the covers. “Lou? Do you want some tea?”

A little surprised, Lou looks up at her and nods. “There should be some ginger tea somewhere in the cabinet, that one usually helps,” she explains, slowly shifting her position to lie on her back, trying to relax her muscles a bit.  

“Sure, coming right up,” Debbie smiles, and turns back towards the kitchen.

“Wait, Debs?” Lou calls after her, and Debbie stops on the spot, turning back around. “Could you, and I can’t believe I’m asking you, make breakfast?”

Debbie’s eyes go wide and she looks at Lou like she just grew a second head. “Are you sure? Last time I got near the stove you were ready to chase after me with a frying pan…”

Lou chuckles. “Maybe you can manage fried eggs? Just please, try not to burn my kitchen down!” she calls after Debbie, who is already halfway back in the kitchen, where the water in the kettle is boiling sooner than anticipated.

She takes two cups out of the cupboard and searches for the ginger tea and some fruity tea for herself, puts the teabags in and fills them with hot water. Waiting for a minute, she lets the water cool down before filling up the bottle, something she had learned the hard way after burning herself with too-hot water when she was younger and her mom hadn’t been there to advise her.

With the carefully closed bottle, she makes her way to the bedroom where Lou has turned to lie on her stomach, breathing a little heavier than usual, not aware of her presence until Debbie turns up at her side and gently taps her shoulder.

“Lou? I got the hot-water bottle, the tea should be ready soon, too - are you okay?” Her brows are knitted in concern and Lou gives her a small smile from where her face is half pressed into the pillow and hums. “Yeah…”

Usually, she’d find Debbie’s constant concern annoying, but right now it’s endearing, and quite frankly also very comforting to have someone look after her. She takes the bottle from Debbie and rolls onto her side, pressing it to her stomach and curling up into a ball again. “Thanks,” she murmurs, closing her eyes as the warmth spreads through her and she feels the pain lessen, if only slightly.

Debbie strokes her shoulder once, then brushes some hair from her face and gives her another sympathetic smile. “I’ll be right back,” she promises, and disappears to the kitchen again.

She knows where Lou keeps most of her kitchenware and she’s not _completely_ helpless in the kitchen, despite what Lou might tell anyone. Eggs for breakfast she can do, so she pulls out a medium-sized pan and sets it on the stove before mixing a few eggs, a little milk and some spices together in a bowl. Once the pan is hot, she dips the eggs into it and then starts looking for plates and some bread to go with the eggs, looking towards the pan every few seconds out of worry.

She manages not to let anything burn, instead gets the eggs fried perfectly and scoops them onto two plates, next to a slice of bread each. With one plate, a fork and Lou’s ginger tea, she slowly walks into the bedroom, met with the image of Lou still curled up under the covers.

As soon as Debbie appears in the doorway, she sits up though, bottle still clutched to her stomach. “Ah, I was wondering if I should have the phone ready to call the fire department,” she jokes, but nevertheless eagerly watches Debbie come closer until she can take the still steaming cup from her and takes a small sip, careful not to burn herself.

“Mhhh… thank you,” she hums, and motions for Debbie to put the plate on the bedside table so she can grab her own breakfast from the kitchen.

When Debbie returns, she settles against the bed frame at the foot of the bed, opposite Lou, and watches her sip her tea.

“Bon appetit,” Lou says to her over the edge of the cup as Debbie digs her fork into her eggs, and Debbie grins.

“Guten Appetit,” she replies, mouth already full, and Lou’s eyes twinkle, setting down her cup and picking up her own plate.

“I don’t speak Ukrainian, honey."

“German, actually.” Debbie laughs at the way Lou rolls her eyes, but gives her a concerned look the second Lou’s annoyed smile turns into a pained grimace and one of her arms presses the hot-water bottle tighter against her stomach.

She is about to dart forward, not really knowing why but feeling better about being close to Lou, when Lou cuts her off. “Debbie, I’m fine,” she insists. “I’ve dealt with this before, relax and eat your breakfast before it gets cold.”

Debbie gives her one more worried glance, met with a reassuring smile, before going back to her plate. Lou can be so damn stubborn, it's usually best to let her have her way.

They both finish their food pretty quickly and Debbie can’t help being a little proud of her cooking, even if it's nothing compared to the absolute masterpieces Lou can create in the kitchen. Living with a cook does have its benefits, she supposes, if you ignore the lack of independence and personal space that come with living at someone else's one-bedroom apartment.

Debbie is halfway through her tea when Lou groans opposite her and shifts to lie down on her side to press the hot-water bottle closer to her body again, face twisted in pain.

“Are you sure you're alright?” Debbie asks, by her side in an instant, tea forgotten on the bedside table, reaching out to stroke Lou’s arm. She only gets a huff as an answer and figures that Lou really doesn't want to admit that it hurts more.

Settling on her side, her front facing Lou’s back, she resumes stroking Lou’s arm, then moves to her side, gently running her hand over it. “Try to relax a little, baby,” she murmurs, and Lou chuckles weakly.

“You think I haven't tried that?”

Debbie pokes her side and Lou gasps in mock offense before slightly uncurling her body, stretching out her legs a little and breathing a little harder through the pain. She leans back against Debbie just slightly, just enough for her to catch on and move closer, her entire body pressing against Lou’s. It's unusual, she’s not used to being the big spoon - not with Lou, at least; she doesn't usually cuddle in general, but sometimes at night they somehow end up pressed against each other, Lou’s arm thrown over her middle. She assumes it's because Lou has a tendency of sleeping like a starfish, long limbs spread out all over the bed, and when Debbie began sleeping in it, she simply adjusted. But it's nice, so she never says anything, just lets herself fall back to sleep with Lou’s arm around her when she wakes up in the middle of the night.

So now, she hopes it’ll calm Lou down, her body heat and the gentle caresses of her hands on Lou’s arm. And not too soon, the small huffs even out when she breathes, easing into a slow pattern of deep breaths, her body relaxing next to Debbie’s.

She glances at the alarm clock - 11:30, they’ve been up for one and a half hours, and it's a weekend - a little extra sleep should do her good, considering she’s been keeping up with Lou’s insane hours the past few weeks, awoken by her alarm and going to bed only when Lou does, because she feels strange about sleeping alone in Lou’s bed. Not because she misses Lou in it specifically, she tells herself, but if she’s completely honest, there has never been a time she has fallen asleep more easily than when Lou’s body is wrapped around her.

Yawning quietly, she adjusts her position to put her arm under her head, careful not to wake Lou again, nuzzling impossibly closer to her. It barely takes her a minute before she’s drifted off, lulled to sleep by Lou’s soft breaths and her familiar scent, comforting like the warm body pressed against her.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so thankful for all the support I've gotten so far, you guys have no idea!  
> Let me know if you have any prompts you'd like to see written - I can't promise anything but I try :)
> 
> As always, let me know what you think!


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